Economy Update – Follow-up
On Monday, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating the US Treasury and Trade Departments to establish a sovereign wealth fund, and he indicated a potential move to acquire the TikTok application.
President Trump revealed that discussions concerning the acquisition of TikTok are ongoing with various stakeholders, with a decision on the application’s future anticipated by February.
Following the executive signing, Trump emphasized that all parties would be subject to customs duties, reiterating his commitment to escalate tariffs on China if an agreement is not reached. He mentioned that negotiations regarding customs duties with China are expected to commence within the next 24 hours.
In an additional remark, he stated that the United States will protect itself from potential exploitation by Canada.
The TikTok application, which boasts approximately 170 million users in the United States, faced a temporary suspension prior to an enacted legislation necessitating the Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to either divest its ownership citing national security concerns or contend with a ban that took effect on January 19.
Upon taking office on January 20, Trump signed an executive order aimed at postponing the application of the ban for 75 days.
As part of a negotiated agreement involving the White House, the Chinese company will maintain a minority stake in TikTok. However, the application’s algorithm, data handling, and software updates will fall under the oversight of Oracle, a company already integral to the infrastructure of the TikTok platform.
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